Joe Manchin is one of the few remaining Democrats who doesn't think that Vladimir Lenin was just a heck of a great guy and that Leon Trotsky was just misunderstood. He represents deep-red West Virginia in the United States Senate - for now - and, while remaining a Democrat, is not blind to reality.

Including the reality that President Joe Biden is in no shape to be running for re-election. On Sunday, Senator Manchin told CNN's Jake Tapper that it's time for the president to "pass the torch."

“I came to the decision with a heavy heart that I think it’s time to pass the torch to a new generation,” Manchin told CNN’s Jake Tapper on “State of the Union” on Sunday.

“I want him to be the president in the last five months of this presidency of his term, to do what he can do is unite our country, to calm down the rhetoric and be able to focus attention to peace in the world,” Manchin said. “Campaigning, I’ve been to statewide campaigns many times, it’s an unbelievable challenge to anybody, to anybody physically, mentally, every way, shape and form. And right now, the country and the world needs our President Joe Biden, but the compassion he’s always had and the ability to bring people together to use all of his forces and energy towards that.”

There are a few problems with the Senator's invocation of President Biden's abilities, though; if we are to presume that old Joe is incapable of campaigning and serving a second term, then we should presume that he's not only not capable but actually a risk to national security remaining in office these last few months. Also, it's hard to credit Joe Biden, with any compassion given his history starting with the Clarence Thomas confirmation hearings right up to his abominable ignoring of his innocent granddaughter.

The interview was posted on X:

On @CNNSotu, @Sen_JoeManchin tells @jaketapper that “I came to the decision with a heavy heart that it’s time to pass the torch to a new generation” and that President Biden should step aside. pic.twitter.com/glujXQ0hJf

— State of the Union (@CNNSOTU) July 21, 2024

The president's campaign apparatchiks are still, unbelievably, digging in:

“Joe Biden has made it more than clear: he’s in this race and he’s in it to win it. Moreover, he’s the presumptive nominee, there is no plan for an alternative nominee,” Dan Kanninen, Biden campaign battleground states director, wrote in a memo released after the Republican National Convention.

Vice President Kamala Harris is considered a front-runner should Biden step aside, a decision that is expected to be reached this week.

It is belaboring the obvious to note that the longer this decision is delayed, the more voters look at Donald Trump and draw the obvious comparison - and contrast Trump's strength with Biden's weakness.

See Related: 

More and More Democrats Are Calling for Biden to Drop Out 

New Poll Spells Doom for Biden in Michigan, As Gretchen Whitmer Does Inflatable Tube Man Impression

Joe Manchin, while speaking to Jake Tapper, invoked two Democrat governors as possible replacements, Andy Beshear (D-KY) and Josh Shapiro (D-PA.) He offers no opinion on how the vice president might be nudged out of the game if - when - Joe Biden finally acknowledges reality and gives up the campaign.

And so the drip... drip... drip... continues.